Keeper of the Forgotten
by dbrame91
Summary: Naruko story. Both Kushina and Minato live. Rated M for future safety. Naru specializes in "lost" jutsu because of her lineage. Life isn't bad for our hero, but it will fall apart in some places as the story goes.
1. Chapter 1

Keeper of the Lost

By: dbrame91

So far this is a one-shot. I came up with this idea around the same time that I started my other story. This is another Naruko story. I'm not going to have jinchuriki in this story, though I will have the bijuu act more as willing guardians of the different lands. I know that the bijuu are aligned to certain villages but I feel like too many of them have more than one, plus with a new Uzu they should have one as well. If I like where this goes and readers do too, I may continue. I'm rating it M to be safe.

 **I do not own Naruto in any form. I love the long epic adventure and wanted to bring around my own story. I do not benefit from this story in any way other than the fun of writing it, and hopefully other people enjoying it. I am saying this now only, it applies to all future chapters if I write more.**

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Mid-summer was always hot in the Land of Fire. The sun beating down on everything below, the sticky humid days where even AC barely helped. However there are those who had to work hard all year round, be it freezing cold or skin melting hot. There are plenty of people in the Land of Fire that have to work no matter what happens, but for the Shinobi of said land's hidden village, Konohagakure, there is little that they don't do. Every member of the village's ninja forces helps, from the freshest Genin to the oldest ex-Hokage. Even the current Hokage had his own work to do, mostly paperwork but still important.

Namikaze Minato is that current kage, his hair a bright unmistakable blonde and clear blue eyes. He is the man who won his title after years of fighting during the third Shinobi war. However today he had chosen to enjoy the cloudless sky and skip work. Well skip was a bit of a loose term for him, thanks to his natural intelligence it had been easy for him to learn the Kage Bunshin technique and he often used said skill to have someone else do the work. However he would only do it so he could spend time with his loved ones when they were in Konoha, and that was always in summer and winter.

Minato's wife was Uzumaki Kushina, and his daughter was Uzumaki Naru. Kushina had the most vibrant red hair and deepest soft purple eyes, as well as a toned and developed body that Minato loved having pressed against him at night. His wife just so happens to be the acting Uzukage, a rank given to her when she began the restoration of her homeland and to gather her scattered clansmen. She began her journey of restoration after their daughter had been born. Naru has his eyes but her mother's vibrant red hair, though her crimson locks are more of a sunset red. While Naru did keep her hair longer it still had spikey aspects like Minato's. Currently Naru was five years old, and barely up to his waist. She spent half her year in the new Uzushiogakure, learning their customs and styles, and the other half in Konohagakure.

Honestly he hated his daughter not having his family name, but he also understood that it was safer for her to be an Uzumaki. There had already been an attempted kidnapping on her the previous year, a Kumo ninja had snuck in and taken her from her room in the middle of the night. It was one half of the attempt to introduce more bloodlines into the Kumo population, the other half being the young Hyuuga heiress. Thankfully both had been stopped, but it cost the village a staunchly loyal and loved Hyuuga branch member. Had his daughter used his family name he was sure Iwa would have attempted to take her life.

During her time in Konoha, Naru was in the academy during most days in winter, with her summers completely free for play and learning from her father. As such she already had some access to her chakra, which she often used to get into trouble. The young girl was a mystery to many of her teachers as she seemed to learn everything rather quickly, from the basic jutsu to the more advanced taijutsu. She didn't like to fight though, almost abhorred it. Minato had a slight speculation as to why she learned quickly, though no one had any proof to back it up. He had come to the belief that his daughter had a certain gift he hadn't inherited from his blood.

Minato claimed be an orphan for most of his life now, but this was only a recent truth. The blond had been born to a civilian mother, as the bastard child of a branch member of the Uchiha clan. He never had the Uchiha colorings of dark, usually black, hair or the coal black eyes. When he was starting in the academy he was taken from his mother by his father. He was taken to be raised as an Uchiha, where he could learn to unlock the sharingan and promote his father's position as the next clan head. As the current head of the clan had not sired any heirs the first family to have an offspring to manifest the dojutsu of the Uchiha would take the place as the Main Family.

During the time he was an Uchiha his mother passed away from disease. He was kicked out and stripped from any records when he was 10, his father angry that he had lost to Fugaku's branch of the clan. That was the time he stopped counting the Uchiha as his family, and when he said he was an orphan. If he had been nothing but a political tool for his father, then that man wasn't his father. Shortly after he met Kushina for the first time and things got better. Minato never succeeded in calling on the red eyed abilities of his father's clan.

Today Minato was at home, in the on-grounds training area. A friend of his from Suna's puppet corp by the name of Kurokami Momiji was visiting and they had decided to have a light spar, a demonstration for his awed little girl as she watched the two adults fight. No weapons besides Momiji's primary puppet were allowed, and even then she was limited to what hidden weapons she could use.

Momiji was a skilled puppet user, though not as skilled as Suna's Red Scorpion Sasori. She was the first member of her family to join the Puppet corp. Her hair was black and long, the ends just passing her shapely ass, though she folded it over several times and pinned it to the back of her head, leaving two small bangs on either side of her face to frame it. She was only a few years younger than the blond Hokage but had a body much like Tsunade's genjutsu, her ample chest left unbound by any form of bra and almost spilling out of the sides of her sleeveless priestess-like shirt. Her shirt was a crisp clean white with blue stitch work while her pants were the same shade of blue with white stitching.

Momiji's puppet was made for a balance of defense and offense. It had plenty of hiding spots for its hidden weapons, and with almost countless points of articulation making it up it could be seen as a clockwork puppet. The Puppet was made of the strongest wood that Konoha had to offer, rivaling even steel, and was fire hardened to make it even stronger. The body was almost as tall as she was, just short enough that when the puppet was out she could use it as an armrest, which meant she couldn't carry it with her easily. If she did bring it out she was either fighting or she was using it as transport.

"Watch closely little Uzumaki. Your otou-san is about to owe me free dinner for my entire stay." Momiji called out as she twitched her fingers slightly, opening the mouth of her armadillo themed puppet and letting it fire practice senbon, before another twitch of the middle and ring fingers of her right hand. Once the commands went through to the puppet it curled up and began to spin vertically, its "shell" opening in several spots and revealing wooden shuriken. Flicking her wrists the dark haired Momiji sent the spinning puppet forward. "Puppet technique: Armadillo Mace!"

Neither adult was watching the little girl as the puppet flew forward at the blond. They both missed as the girl's eyes shifted from Minato's blue to the Uchiha red, a single tomoe in her left eye. As the puppet approached, Minato made the hand sign for the Kage Bunshin and made three clones to back him up. One caught the ball head on, grabbing at two of the kunai, while the other two braced the first to keep him from sliding. Once the ball was stopped the clones popped and Minato came out from behind it, charging his friend, fingers out to serve as his kunai. Right as he was about jab the woman in the forehead with his fingers, claiming his win, a loud sound came from the direction of where Naru had been sitting. When both adults turned to look, hoping it wasn't some kind of attack, they saw that there were four identical red heads piled on top of each other before three of them blew up in clouds of smoke. All that remained was a confused and very tired Naru rubbing at her already blue again eyes.

"Naru dear. Where did you learn that bunshin from?" Minato asked as he looked at her, not having seen her red eyes. She pointed at him with one hand and yawned, her other hand still rubbing her eyes. Using the chance Momiji took a practice kunai and pressed the "point" to his heart playfully. With a grin and a light laugh she declared her win with more adult language, which resulted in a slightly miffed Kushina throwing her out of the modest house.

"No swearing in my household!" The mature red head yelled before grumbling to herself as she returned to the kitchen, carefully watching her large pot of ramen.

The Yondaime came out a few seconds later and helped her up, his daughter dozing off on her feet beside him, before inviting her back inside. "Just watch what you say. Kushina has always hated foul language." He laughed light heartedly as his arms snaked around the young girl and hoisted her up. "Do you need a nap Naru?" The girl nodded her head, be it from sleep or as confirmation wasn't clear but either meant the same thing. Minato disappeared in a yellow flash, using his Hiraishin, and then returned just as quickly but without Naru.

 **Next Day**

Today the sky was dark and rain was pouring down on Konohagakure. Minato had woken up and seen the weather, deciding that it was an actual work day for him, so he went to his office. A little after he arrived Naru found her way into the Hokage Tower and up to his office. She sat quietly on one of the two couches on either side of his office's coffee table for a while, looking around the room and analyzing anything she didn't instantly recognize. 'If she has the Sharingan does she use it to a point of dependence?' Minato allowed himself to continue his thoughts, getting lost along the way and not paying attention to what Naru did. When he came back to his senses his daughter was gone from the room and had opened the door across the hall, the Scroll of Seals opened and in her lap.

"Naru, you shouldn't be reading that." Minato quickly removed himself from his chair and took the scroll back from her. "That scroll has lots of very high ranked Jutsu in it. Each one is labeled a kinjutsu, and some of them were not even capable of being used by their creators."

"Why?" The red haired child asked as she looked back at the scroll, already forgetting what she had read. "I saw that bunshin jutsu from yesterday in there."

Minato nodded his head. He knew it was in there, the scroll was where he had learned it from. Some of his other techniques also came from the scroll's contents, such as his Hiraishin even though he had to tweak it using fuinjutsu. Leading his daughter from the room, his hand between her shoulder blades and leaning forward a bit, he began to explain why certain ones where forbidden. "First there is the Edo Tensei. That is really bad as it needs human sacrifice and disrespects the dead. It allows the user to bring back the dead in a constantly regenerating body, but binds the deceased to the caster's will." Minato knew where that technique was in the scroll, and was happy that the little girl in front of him had not been anywhere close to it.

"What about Kage Bunshin? Why is that in there?" Naruko looked up and backwards at her father as she asked. She really wanted to know because it was the first time she could make a clone successfully. Like her mother she had too much chakra for simple illusion clones.

"That jutsu uses a lot of chakra to make even just one clone. That is why you felt sleepy yesterday after you used it. It also has a special ability that allows it to transmit memories from the clones to the original when they pop." Minato explained as he sat the girl back down and took out some blank paper and crayons for her. "Kage Bunshin uses so much chakra that the Nidaime could only make two or three at a time." Naru happily accepted the paper and crayons from her father and sat down to draw while he started working again.

A couple hours later, near lunch time, Kushina came by and took the little Uzumaki with her as they went to get lunch. When they closed the door Minato collected the used paper Naru had put to the side and went through it, noticing that she had been drawing the different hand seals in impressive detail. When his family returned with lunch Minato took a break to eat with them, asking about the girl's drawings and was told that it was summer homework from the Uzushio academy. When she was asked about the level of detail in them she said that she had watched Uchiha Itachi demonstrate each one, and that the details where from his hands.

Getting bored of being asked questions Naru asked her own. "How did you become Hokage Tou-san?" She looked at him with her eyes wide in wondering. "I know Sarutobi-jiji learned over one thousand non-clan jutsu as well as demonstrated bravery and power during the wars to earn the position, but does every Hokage need to learn that many techniques?"

"The Hokage needs to be someone who is powerful, respected, and loved." The only blond in the room answered, his box lunch in one hand. "I earned the position because of my contribution during the third war. Honestly, I know about one tenth of the number of jutsu that Hiruzen knows." He chuckled lightly as he met the eyes of his daughter. "Why? Do you want to be Hokage someday?"

The younger of the two redheads' cheeks tinted pink as she nodded. "I do, or maybe the Uzukage. But I don't like fighting and I don't want to be someone that people are afraid of." Naru's fingers started to play with the hem of her dress, her eyes looking but not actually seeing what she was doing.

"Well to be the Kage of a village you do need to fight sometimes. You can't send your people to what might be their deaths if you wouldn't go yourself." Kushina said to her gently as she rubbed her daughter's back. "And I am only the Acting Uzukage dear. That means when Uzushio is back on its feet, and the people return, I will step down and let someone else take over. If no one else is able to properly fill the role I will keep it until there is someone who can." Naru nodded her head slightly and let go of her dress.

 **Two days before end of Summer (One and a half months later.)**

After that rainy day in Minato's office Naru had come and gone from the tower through out the rest of the summer. Every time she did she found her way to the Scroll of Sealing and studied it. One day, just as she was reading about the Edo Tensei, her father caught her as usual and took the scroll from her. When he did he finally found the proof he needed. His daughter had the Sharingan active as she was reading, a short lived look of shock crossed Minato's face. "Why do you keep trying to read that scroll dear? You know there are things in here you shouldn't learn."

"But if no one learns them, then they will be forgotten. Nothing, no matter how bad, should be forgotten." Her eyes shifted back to blue without her knowing they had been any different. "Forgetting something bad is just hiding it away. And forgetting something that is hard to do will eventually make it lost."

"Naru, do you remember everything you read from the scroll today." The girl nodded her head. "Do you know why you remember it?" This time she shook her head. Her eyes met his from her still seated position, waiting for an explanation. After a long history lesson of the village, including who the Uchiha were and what made them such powerful ninja, the blond father then told his daughter about his own past. "The reason you remember so much and can do it right away is because you did what I couldn't Naru dear. You have the Sharingan."

Minato looked up at the clock, seeing it was long past his usual hours in the office. "Let's go home. You need to rest up before you and Kaa-san leave for Uzushio tomorrow." The blond nodded but refused to stand up. When asked why, she told her father that she wanted to finish reading about the Edo Tensei, saying that she should know everything about it, instead of being left curious. Minato ran a hand through his hair as he sighed, agreeing that curiosity about something like the Edo Tensei could lead to some very bad things, but still feeling that she shouldn't learn anything more until she was out of both Academies. "Okay, but read it quickly without your Sharingan. We will talk more about it when we get home."

Reaching out for the scroll gently Naru nodded her head. "Okay Otou-san." The young girl sat in silence, slowly mouthing the words in the scroll as she finished her reading. When she was done she felt a little queasy at the steps needed for the Edo Tensei. "That isn't a good jutsu." Her father only nodded his agreement as they began to walk down the stairs of the Hokage Tower. After a few minutes they got out onto the street and began the walk home. "Could I become Hokage if I learned a lot of lost jutsu?"

"Hmmm. Ushinajutsu*?" Minato quietly nodded his head mulling over the sound of it. "You could, if you could actually use them, but a lot of 'lost jutsu' are lost because they require Kekkai Genkai related to them. A good example is the Hyoton of the Yuki clan." The father/daughter duo continued there walk, stopping to get some fresh curry filled croquettes for dinner. As the two got to the front door of their house the sun was turning the sky a soft mix of pinks and blues.

After dinner the family sat together, talking about their days. Kushina had been busy with going over some request forms from her people in Uzushio, mostly just asking for approval to order more lumber or stone. Most of their contractors came from Wave, a deal that had been made in exchange for Uzushio acting as the small island country's ninja force. The red haired mother also had to go over the different requests for shop licenses, reading who wanted to do what with their establishment and how they planned to fund it. In most cases it was people hoping that the village would give them a loan large enough to operate on for a few months. Lately the requests had been bar owners from different lands looking to expand into the rebuilding country.

When it came to bars, Kushina was reluctant to let them in. In the old days of her home there had only been one bar, it had been for civilians only and run by an honorably discharged former shinobi. The man had lost an arm during one of his missions in Kumo during a rockslide. With his prior life experience it was easy for him to distinguish between civilian and plain clothes shinobi without their forehead protector. It was something that she wanted to bring back, except for allowing ninja as well.

Just as Naru was about to start talking about what she had learned from the scroll, Jiraiya strolled in without an invite or knocking on the door. The newcomer to the house drew the little girl's attention immediately, making her bounce up to her feet and hug the older man. "Ero-jiji!" She tightened the hug as much as she could but was pulled off by the back of her shirt by the man. He had an irritated look on his face as he lifted her to his eye level and told her to stop calling him that. The young girl puffed up her cheeks before opening her mouth. "Keerrrrro," she said playfully before sticking her tongue out at him and breaking into a laughing fit.

The white haired man put her back down on her feet before ruffling her hair. "Gaki, you are too cute for your own good sometimes." The sannin looked over at the two kages and greeted them as the family they were to him. Naru hopped into his lap after he took a seat next to the only blond in the room and began to ramble about everything she had learned since his last visit. After successfully making a shadow clone and being lead through how to activate her sharingan willingly, the Sannin reached behind him as he congratulated her, pulling out a green frog shaped wallet with a zipper mouth for the girl. She happily took the present and started making frog noises as she made it hop along the arms of the couch.

After another hour the mother and daughter excused themselves, Kushina saying they needed to get some sleep for a long day of traveling. Minato had written up the orders for three of Konoha's ANBU to escort the two until they met up with a group of Uzu ninja at a nearby port town. From the town they would take a boat to Wave, picking up a few more contractors and some supplies, and from Wave to Uzushio. The whole trip would take about 2 weeks, as Naru still needed to go at a slower pace. The boat from Fire to Wave would probably take a few hours, while the trip from Wave to Uzushio would be a day or two with a day to load up the ship they hired from Gatou Shipping. The first travel party would take about three days if they carried Naru for the first stretch, but the young girl preferred to walk when she could.

The next morning the three members of the Namikaze family said their goodbyes at the point where Minato would turn right to head to the Hokage tower while Naru and Kushina took the left. Their escort kept to the shadows and rooftops until they got to the big gates of Konoha. As the two walked out they were joined by the silver haired ANBU with a dog mask, a purple haired woman with a cat mask, and a black haired man with a weird weasel looking mask. The younger of the two unmasked group smiled and waved at each one. They had never been good at hiding from her. Though only the one with black hair had recently seen why, the other two hadn't yet.

 **11 years Later**

A young woman, with red hair and an overly developed for her comfort body, approached the big gates of one of her two homes. Naru was dressed in Uzu's standard gear, with her own touches where she was allowed to make them. The few changes she had made were patches of burnt orange in certain spots that allowed her to add some more room to the garments. Over her usual attire she wore a baggier traveling cloak that helped her to hide her figure.

It had been in the past year that she had developed heavily. She had spent the past year traveling between the different lands, trying to study the techniques of the nine bijuu. Between the nine changes of diet which served to help her mimic the bijuu's mentality and chakra flow, she wasn't too sure that they had been honest about that, and all the exercise she had worked in had given her a more curvy shape as well as increased the bust size. She had been an average B-cup when she left, but after going through with the six tails's training she had grown to a full D that now bordered on DD after Kurama's training.

It had been a tough year, as she often had to sneak around in the countries. The first to help her had been Uzu's 3 tailed turtle guardian. The last had been the Land of Fire's Kyuubi. The reason she had chosen now to return to Konoha was that the people she had studied with in the Academy would be graduating now, meaning she could join a team of similarly aged Genin.

One of the reasons it had taken her a year to find the beasts was that usually she had to get permission from that country's Kage, if they had one. When she couldn't get the permission, be it because the Kage refused or going to the Kage would be a bad idea (like Kumo or Iwa), she had to sneak around and find the bijuu herself.

Of course she had no way to learn or use the bijudama but things like Isobu's Coral Style or Kurama's Demon Fox Mimicry was just a quick use of chakra like any other jutsu. In the few times she would use techniques from the bijuu not of her home lands she would succumb to heavy bouts of sickness. One time she had thrown up after using the two tails's flaming hairballs, an incident which the monster cat found funny but disgusting.

As she got closer to the large gates some bushes to her side rustled heavily just before two large shadows jumped from them. The two masses charged at her. From the headbands she saw that they were both Kumo ninja. Kumo had been chasing her since she had been caught by the Lightning Country's daimyo trying to take a fish from his lands. 'It's not my fault that the rich guy didn't post signs.' The country's ninja had been after her ever since. Her vivid red hair instantly betrayed her lineage while her use of one of the eight tail's jutsu meant that she had been in the country without permission from the current leader, and had stolen one of their secrets if not more.

As Naru flung her cloak open and brought her hands together to make a hand sign, two slighter figures jumped forward from behind her and intercepted the two Kumo ninja. The two new comers were both ANBU who had been assigned to wait for her. Looking at their masks she knew who they were immediately. Both were Uchiha, one with long hair and the other with shorter hair. Shisui and Itachi. Whenever she had visited Konoha they were always the ones who watched over her, ever since she was ten and the village had found out about her Uchiha ancestry. The reason for both of them being her guardians was because she was engaged to both, but that was a long story all by itself.

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During the winter, when she was 10, Iruka had been drilling the class on the different elements and asked for demonstrations, and then for people to try and use a jutsu from each of the standard elements. Naru had watched the rest of the class go before her turn, her eyes deep red and her still single tomoe showing. When it was her turn she left her eyes active and copied each jutsu requested. When her teacher saw the red eyes he commented on them.

Most of the girls in the class had been fawning over Sasuke, as usual, who after hearing that claimed that her having his family's eyes was impossible. His claims quickly seconded by the girls. Naru tried to explain why, but Sasuke drowned her out when he got in her face, scaring the red out of her eyes. Itachi had been walking back from the Hokage tower when he heard his brother's raised voice. He listened in and heard the argument. After that the older of the two Uchihas went to collect the red head's father as well as his own.

Fugaku had demanded for an explanation, and after getting it the Uchiha head demanded for a full council meeting. With both civilian and ninja parties present. After hours of fighting, with Naru just outside the door to the large meeting room, it was decided through vote that the Sharingan was something that only the Uchiha clan should have and that Naru would be wed into the clan. Of course because of her political standing as the Hokage's daughter Fugaku proposed that the union should be with his oldest son, another early achiever of the red eyes. The civilians and elders on the council all agreed, while the Hokage said the son of his only friend within the Uchiha compound would be the one. After more fighting it was decided that she would be engaged to both, with the chance to choose which one she would marry.

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The two Kumo ninja were dispatched quickly by the two Uchiha. Over the past six years she had grown close to both of them when she was in the village. She did love them both, and both of them cared deeply for her as well. She was dreading when she would have to make her choice. The time for that was still a few years off, though that length of time was still too short for a ninja, especially when one mission could take months or years depending on the difficulty.

Looking down at the fallen enemies Naru quickly made three hand signs and put a hand on the earth under her feet. Two holes opened up and swallowed the corpses before resealing. After a short prayer of apology to the men, why should she invite their ghosts to haunt her that was just scary, she looked up at her saviors and smiled. Both men were in their masks, Itachi with the mark of ANBU commander on his vest. She greeted them both by title, not name, and asked if they would be joining her the rest of the way to the tower in the middle of the village. "Otou-san would most likely want to thank you two." Both men nodded and allowed her to take the lead, giving her plenty of room.

 **Chapter End**

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I use the term "Ushinajutsu." It isn't an exact translation but it is basically "lost jutsu."

Wondering if I should make Minato like Maka's father from Soul Eater.


	2. Chapter 2

Keeper of The Lost

By: dbrame91

A/N: I wrote this in advance. Naru's family is in a bit of trouble at the moment but she doesn't know. It is nothing violent, but you need to read to know. I'm also trying to make Naru a bit less Naruto like. I want to make her somewhere between open with people like Ino, and Sakura around Sasuke in Part 1.

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 **Chapter 2**

"The village is so much bigger now." Naru looked around at the vastly different skyline since her last visit. She quickly forgot herself, her escorts, and her prior teachings. "I'm lost," she declared as her eyes started to tear up. "I know tou-san's office is in the middle of the village but there are so many new buildings and streets and alleys!"

Suddenly the girl was lifted off of her feet, startled by the sudden change she looked up. Her eyes quickly met the hidden eyes of her short haired Uchiha and she calmed down, pressing a bit closer to him. "Let's go Naru-chan." Both ANBU took to the roofs, where Shisui let Naru back onto her feet. Out of the eyes of civilians now she shifted onto her toes and kissed his mask softly. She wasn't supposed to do anything that could give away who either of her ANBU were, but in more private places like the roofs of Konoha she would forget that rule. She turned to Itachi as well and kissed his mask on the nose.

"Thank you Shisui, Itachi." She smiled slightly as she began to look for the obvious face of the Hokage Tower and resumed her walk. The two Uchiha followed after her, again giving her some space as they hopped from roof to roof. As some Academy graduate hopefuls jumped in front of them and off again Naru laughed. "How is your otouto doing Weasel?" The red haired teen asked, dropping the familiarity of his name in case any other non-ANBU were nearby.

"He is good Naru-sama. Glad to be done with the Academy." The long haired Uchiha replied.

"Oh did he test out early? I thought Tou-san disbanded that." Naru's head tilted to the right a bit as she skipped from one roof to the next, the second being about a foot lower than the first.

"He tried to. Hokage-sama allowed him to take the test, but he had to stay through the rest of the year like everyone else from your year." The Weasel masked man replied. "He would also still fail if he stopped going after passing the test."

'Oh _yay_. I might be on his team then.' Her thoughts rang as sarcastic in her head, a verbal tone she had never been good at. Naru hadn't gotten along with the brattier of the Main house heirs after the situation when she was ten. "Is he still flocked to by fangirls? He always hated that, and I hope he is."

"Naru-sama, I know you and my brother are not very friendly, but he is going to be your brother-in-law." Itachi said, before getting elbowed in the shoulder.

"Not if she chooses me over you Weasel." Shisui laughed light heartedly as Naru turned from pink to her mother's hair red when she remembered she had to choose one, what would happen after she chose, and what would happen after that. Her head flooded with Jiraiya approved perversion and she shook her head in mid jump, missing the next roof and falling between the buildings. Both ANBU raced after her to catch her, but found her safely hanging onto a piece of thick coral that looked to have grown out of the wall.

When Itachi brought her back up to the rooftops, Shisui taking the chunk of coral to be safe, the two looked at her face. There were markings around her eyes and mouth, a seafoam green that seemed to look like face paint. The marks faded quickly as she relaxed and looked at them. In a bow, she shouted an apology for scaring them. "What was with your face just now Naru-chan?"

Knowing what Shisui meant she looked up, a bit hesitant. "That happens when I use the bijuu techniques." She pressed her fingers around the area of her mouth. "Each color and design means a certain bijuu. It is kind of like Senju Hashirama's sage mode, but using my chakra not nature's. That was Isobu's markings." Naru turned around as she continued her stroll to see her father, the cloak around her shoulders billowing up around her, exposing her to a slight breeze. Looking down she began to cry. "How did I tear my shirt? I thought I fixed the fit enough." She dropped to her knees and began to draw on the roof tiles with a finger, mumbling to herself about the training she received from the different beasts.

Shisui laughed softly before pulling the Uzumaki back to her feet and picking her up in a bridal carry again. "Once you get to the tower you can change your shirt before seeing Hokage-sama. Hold on to your cloak." The young woman nodded and was assaulted by a slight breeze. Her thoughts instantly recognizing the shunshin technique that Shisui was overly adept at. When she opened her eyes again she was outside the balcony of the room that housed the Scroll of Sealing. Naru climbed in first before locking the window shut behind her and pulling the shades across.

She quickly changed her shirt to a spare. This one was brand new and made from a very durable and stretch resistant fabric like Gai's jumpsuits. As she looked herself over she sighed and started going from scroll to scroll looking for something she could put on over the shape hugging material. Naru settled for a half jacket with three quarter sleeves. The jacket was a comfortable fit and allowed her the privacy to her figure to put her cloak away as well. When she opened the curtains again, Shisui and Itachi were both on the balcony now. Shisui's mask pressed against the window and one eye were the slight gap had been between the curtains.

Shisui jumped back, arms waving frantically before one hand moved to where his mouth would be, trying to shush her. Naru turned bright pink from her hair to her toes. Suddenly markings appeared on her face, black whiskers and a mask like band across her eyes. Soundlessly to the two ANBU she called the name of a technique which caused a small twister of sand around the short haired man and lifted him off the balcony to drop him in open air.

Suddenly the door behind Naru slammed open and there, in all his Hokage authority, was her father. Minato looked ready to fight, as well as a bit disheveled. His eyes promised pain to whoever he found, but softened when he saw his daughter. "Naru-chan. When did you get here? Why didn't you come in through the normal way?" Naru's markings disappeared and she rushed the man, taking him into a hug as tight as she could. The blond Hokage returned his daughter's hug as he looked down at her. "I thought you were getting in tomorrow, for the team placements."

"I wanted to visit with you and Kaa-san before I got put on a team. Is she here yet?" Naru looked up and smiled as Shisui climbed back onto the balcony and both Uchiha came in through the window.

"No, Naru. Kaa-san had to skip this visit. She is busy back in Uzushio. Apparently that Gato Shipping group has taken over Wave and are exploiting the citizens." Minato explained as a voice called out from his office.

"Minato, what's going on?" Momiji appeared in the threshold to the blond's office, her hair left down with a few strands out of place. "AH! Naru-chan. How have you been? It has been ages since I saw you." She came over and hugged the redhead happily. While the two shared a hug and short conversation Minato asked his daughter's escorts what happened. Itachi was the one to explain, skipping over Shisui's attempt at peeking on the Uzumaki girl.

Minato thanked them and excused them for the rest of the day. "Naru, why don't you and Momiji head back to the house so you can drop off your stuff." The Hokage suggested as he rubbed his neck and went back to his desk. Once he was seated he looked up to see Naru still there with Momiji behind her. "Is something wrong?"

Naru bit her lower lip as she struggled with choosing to speak up or not. "Are you and Kaa-san fighting again? She hasn't been to Konoha since winter." Part of what brought the question around was that Naru had smelt Minato on Momiji, but she didn't want to say anything. Minato was shocked a bit but nodded. He continued to tell her that because they were both busy with their jobs as Kage that it had been hard for them to stay as connected as they wanted. "You didn't need to hide it Tou-san." Naru turned and left the room, Momiji following after her. As they walked through the village the two talked, Naru about all the bijuu jutsu she learned and Momiji about her new puppet design she was working on.

"So why are you in Konoha Momiji-san? I thought Suna was trying to increase its Puppet Corp numbers." During Naru's visit to the Devil's Sandy Crotch called Sunagakure she had seen a few people from the village's different corps trying to recruit where ever they could. She herself had been stopped by one of the village's fan wielders, who said she could feel the Uzumaki's wind nature. Naru politely declined and explained she wasn't from Suna, taking her Uzu hitai-ate out. That caused an issue that forced her into a face to face with the Kazekage, a very stern man, where she had to display her traveling papers as well as her mother's note of warning/explanation.

"Oh, that is part of why I am here. I'm currently the ambassador between our villages because I'm a friend of Minato's. Part of my job is to work a deal for more wood for our puppet crafting. I've been here for almost two months now." The older woman explain as she slowly put her hair back into its folded fashion. "Minato won't be done with work for a few more hours, so why don't we go to the hot springs after we get you unpacked?"

Naru loved the sound of that. It had been a few weeks since she had a warm soak. Just as she was about to agree she stopped and shook her head. When the black haired woman to her side asked why she tried to explain but stopped. 'If I say his name he will appear.' Instead she charaded the reason; lifting one foot up and putting it behind her bent knee, arms out wide, she hopped a few steps. Momiji caught on right away.

"Oh you mean Jiraiya." The Suna ninja hadn't picked up on Naru's hesitation to say the name. For the teen, the name played in slow motion. "Ja," she turned to her companion. "Rai," Naru sprang forward, trying to stop Momiji. "Ya," her hand covered the puppet master's mouth, but it was too late. As soon as Naru slumped in defeat a cloud of smoke appeared and Jiraiya hopped out, in the same pose Naru had just imitated. "Wow, you were spot on!" Momiji laughed as she looked to Naru.

"WOW! Beautiful ladies!" The shout was expected for the youngest of the three. "Oho. A buxom black haired beauty from Suna." The Sannin turned to look at the other young woman. "And a shy but busty Uzumaki? It must be my lucky day."

'Of course he would notice Momiji first.' Naru looked up at him. "Go away Ero-jiji. I just want to go to the hot springs in peace."

"Ero? Jiji? WHAAAAT!?" This time Naru covered her ears. "Naru? But last time I saw you, you were a washing board." The last time he had seen his godchild was when he paid a visit to Uzu, during her birthday before she left on her travels.

"I was NOT! I just wasn't one of your pervy magazine models." Naru huffed before turning to Momiji. "I'm going home." As she started to leave Jiraiya followed her, trying to apologize, the teen growing more embarrassed as the old man rambled.

They had gotten a few blocks further before the Toad Sage asked, "So did either of your Uchiha suitors have to have you when they saw your recent...growth?" Naru hit bright red faster than she ever had and lost her focus, accidentally tripping over her own feet. "Oh? Which one was it? I would put my money on that Itachi kid. The uptight and serious ones are usually the ones with less control over that kind of impulse."

"N-neither one would do anything like that!" Naru started off loud but turned down the volume near the end as she remembered Shisui's attempted peeking, her blush growing even redder forcing the girl to start giving off heat. "A-a-anyway, even if they did I wouldn't tell you." Jiraiya smirked and began to write in his little research book.

"I'll just have to ask them myself then." The old man's smirk grew wider as Naru wheeled around on him, but disappeared as he watched seafoam green markings appear on her face. "Wha..."

" **CORAL BINDING: TRIDENT!** " Suddenly a spear of coral shot up from the ground and branched off growing thicker as it trapped him. Before he knew it Jiraiya had one branch grown around each wrist and one around his neck. Isobu's markings vanished and Naru stormed off.

"Oi, Naru, don't just leave me here!" He continued to watch her walk away. "Get back here and listen to your elders!" Still no reaction from the girl. "Please? I can feel the inspiration I am missing from here. Somewhere, out in the Elemental nations, there is a drop dead beauty who would be the perfect base for a new character in my books. And I am missing it!"

Several hours later, while most of the business where either closing for the day or already getting ready for the following morning, on his way home Minato would find Jiraiya still stuck there and still whining about the loss of valuable resource material for the next Icha Icha.

 **Back to the present and with Naru**

Naru ran the rest of the way home, wanting to make up for lost time taken by the distraction that was her kind hearted godfather. After unloading all of her scrolls in the room she called hers Naru began to open each one only to close it shortly after and move to the next one. Eventually she found what she wanted, a change of clean clothes and her toiletries caddy. "Shampoo? Check. Conditioner? Check. Soap?" Naru took a small sniff at the bar in her hand. "Flowery and check. I'm already to go."

Naru met Momiji, who was already waiting for her, at the front door to the Namikaze household. "Have you been staying here during your visits Momiji-san?"

The puppet user got a bit nervous as she answered. "Yeah. Not too much though. I feel like Suna should pay for some stuff while I'm here." Naru nodded and lead the way to the springs, stopping at the Academy first to say hi to her classmates.

"Ohaiyo!" Naru slid open the door to the room her class would be in and smiled. Momiji was behind her and chose to wait in the hall while the teen said her hellos. The class was in the middle of being called one by one to go to the next room over and take the test to graduate. "Where is my rude little Otouto?" The Uzumaki heiress looked over all the people in the room, catching the glare of her target right away. "There he is!" She exclaimed as she pointed at him. "Sasuke-san, my otouto!" The number of glares only grew as each girl in the room, except for the quiet Hyuuga girl, looked Naru over and demanded that she be more respectful of Sasuke. "But he is my Otouto. Well might be. I still need to decide if I want Itachi or Shisui."

Just as the redhead was about to be trampled by angry fangirls Iruka walked into the room. "Okay everyone settle down..." Iruka looked to the girl a bit confused.

"Iruka-sensei, do you know who that tramp is?" A random girl near the back yelled out.

"Miss, why are you in this room? And why do you have bathing supplies? If you are going to come to a school you should bring things to write with."

"Why doesn't anybody recognize me?" Naru pouted as she looked down. She let her eyes go from their beautiful shiny blue to their Uchiha red. "I mean what about breast growth is so capable of changing a person's identity." Naru then began to mumble, her cheeks puffed up a bit. "Stupid six tailed slug with it's leaves and seaweed diet, and all that 'be squishy but unbreakable' stuff. All any of that did was give me these."

"Miss, are you okay?" Iruka asked the girl as he stepped a bit closer, drawing her attention again.

"Huh? Oh sorry Iruka-sensei. I just wanted to say hello to the class I'll be working with." Naru turned to the other students and bowed. "It has been a long time since I was home, so I hope to see most of you tomorrow at team placement. My name is Uzumaki Naru, I hope we can get along." After her introduction, many of the students were stunned. That was Naru? The girl who hadn't been in their class for over a year? The one who always made Sasuke angry, even if she was usually backing away from him? A few of the young men in the room wondering if she was the same Naru who had barely any need for a bra just over a year ago. The girls wondering if that leaves and seaweed had been what added so much to her chest size, then turning to Hinata wondering if she was doing that too.

"Don't you need to take the graduation test yourself Uzumaki-san?" Iruka asked before she left the room.

"No, I'm a Genin in Uzushiogakure so my rank transfers to here too. I took a year to study from a few specialists, after graduating, before coming back to Konoha, and Hokage-sama already knows my skills." Naru turned back to the room and waved towards Sasuke, just making him angry. "Bye Otouto. I will see you sometime this week for dinner at the compound. Tell Mikoto-san I'll cook, so she can relax."

Naru waved to the rest of the class again and disappeared with her puppet loving chaperone down the hall. "Okay, let's go have a nice visit to the hot springs."

When the two well developed ladies got to the springs Naru took a few spiraling outward laps around the building. "I don't want Ero-jiji to be peeking," she explained when Momiji gave her a confused look. Together they walked in and approached the proprietor. "Can we get two locker keys?" Naru smiled sweetly as she asked, taking her wallet out to pay the attendant. Both women entered the room and found their lockers to stow their clothes in. Once she was undressed Naru grabbed a towel and went into the bathing area, Momiji right behind her with her towel over her arm.

The springs were occupied by several ladies already. Most of them were ninja with only two or three being under Jonin rank. There was one woman with hair like Shisui's but down to her shoulders and red eyes. She was sitting with two purple haired women, one had a dango stick in her mouth and was talking around it and the other's was just passed her shoulder blades. Momiji and Naru both rinsed off before getting into the water.

Naru looked over at her father's probable lover as she tried to enjoy the water. Both of them took in the warmth of the water, Naru never fully relaxing as she expected Jiraiya to start giggling any minute. "Hey Momiji, bring your friend over here and join us." A voice called out from where the group of three kunoichi were and Naru looked over. The one looking at them straight on was the purple haired woman who still had the dango stick in her mouth. Naru looked over at the Suna woman who nodded and started over, the Uzumaki girl following her.

"Yuhi Kurenai. It is a pleasure to meet you." The red eyed woman held out her hand to the teen and shook her hand. "Are you from Suna as well?"

"Uzumaki Naru," the teen returned the introduction. " No, I'm from Uzushiogakure and Konoha."

"Oh, you must be the Uzukage's brat. Been a while since you've been in Konoha right? The name is Mitarashi Anko, and that is Uzuki Yugao." The louder of the three interrupted Naru as she introduced herself and the third woman.

"I am the daughter of the Uzukage, though the Hokage is my father." The three women looked at the red head with looks of shock.

"But Hokage-sama doesn't have any kids." Kurenai spoke up first, eliciting nods from Anko and Yugao.

"Not officially. But he is married and does have one child." Naru replied as she lowered herself into the water a bit more.

"And that child is amazingly stacked." Anko was behind Naru, her fingers wiggling before she grabbed onto the girl's buoyant chest. The red head started squirming immediately, her breath catching in her throat, as she tried to worm her way to freedom. The brash natured woman turned her head to Momiji. "I can't believe you, trying to seduce the Yondaime's daughter in the hot springs. Are all Suna women that bold?"

Momiji's eyes went wide. "Anko, don't say that out loud!" The kunoichi from Suna flushed a bit, and Anko let Naru go. The teen was panting and trying to hide her chest with her arms, her cheeks bright as fire at midnight. Naru went under the water and moved to the edge of the spring, where Anko had been before. With her back pressed against the wall Naru continued to guard her chest with her arms.

"Why else would you go to the hot springs with someone than to see them naked?" Anko countered as she settled into Naru's previous spot. The redhead looked over at the puppeteer and brushed it off. Momiji had always been like an aunt to her, so Naru knew that wasn't true. The teen submerged herself again, letting the water muffle anything else being said. When she resurfaced, Naru made her way out of the spring and back into the changing room.

"I'm sorry about that Naru." The teen turned and found her father's friend coming over to her. Naru shrugged as she stepped her right leg into her underwear and then the left. "Anko never should have said any of that." Momiji had her towel wrapped around her body and her hair unbound.

"It's okay. I know what she said isn't true." Naru supplied as she put on her bra, having trouble securing it in back only to have Momiji help her without being asked. "Thank you." She looked down at the ground before reaching back into the locker and pulling out the spare clothes she had brought, a slightly large shirt and a pair of light weight pants. As she continued getting dressed Momiji dried off and got dressed as well.

They kept to the roofs as they went back to the Namikaze home. The two moved quickly and arrived just as Shisui did, in his off duty clothes. "Shisui-san." Naru called out as she took the last jump to her door. The Uchiha took a step back, giving the kunoichi space to land their jumps. Naru looked up at one of the two Uchiha she was promised to and smiled. "Does Itachi know you are here, trying to win extra points?"

Shisui blushed a bit as he scratched the back of his head. "No? But you don't need both of us around all the time. I'm all the security you'll need tonight." Now he grinned down at her, his eyes squeezed together he smiled. "Tonight is just you and I, going out, having dinner, and then back here so your father doesn't kill me." Naru giggled at the nonchalance of the statement and agreed to the sudden invite.

"Let me just get changed into something more presentable. I don't want to look like I just woke up." Naru took his hand and led him inside, dropping him off at the kitchen table as she continued further into the one floor house and down the hall to her room. The red haired teen returned about twenty minutes later to find her father sitting at the table, staring at the off duty ANBU in his home. Shisui was sweating heavily as he tried to avoid eye contact. "Did I miss anything?" Naru asked as she stepped closer to the table. Both seated men looked at her.

She was wearing a very civilian looking dress that matched her hair color, the dress covered the entirety of her shoulders and went down to her calves. The material was just tight enough that it did conform to the proportions of her chest size, but without hugging every curve on her body. Naru had pulled her hair into an attempt at a low resting ponytail, but still had the occasional stray spike in the left loose gathering of hair.

Shisui shot up to his feet when Naru stood next to him. "Nothing at all Naru-ch...Naru-san." Minato continued to stare at the young man. "Is there anywhere you wanted to go for dinner in particular?" Naru nodded her head and began to lead him to the door. The Hokage watched her round the corner into the hall, Shisui still in view as he mouthed a simple threat to the young man.

Shisui didn't know if he was right in what he got of the threat, but he was sure Minato had told him two things. First that ANBU would be watching and second his rank was in danger, at the least. 'Please don't demote me to Chunin instructor again.' Within seconds of the threat, the young pair was out of the house and heading towards the restaurant district of Konoha, going at a relaxed pace and taking the streets instead of the roof tops.

"Come on Minato, you've scared the boy enough for one night." Momiji said as she walked into the room, seeing him watching his daughter through the kitchen window. She came further in and looked out the window too, watching from over his shoulder, her chest pressed into his back. "She will be okay. Naru is a good girl, and strong when she wants to be."

"Yeah, Jiraiya said something like that when I saw him on the street on my way home." Minato said as he turned his attention back to the puppeteer. "Why was he trapped in coral? He wouldn't tell me exactly, just that he pushed his luck." The Hokage's arm snaked around Momiji's lower back, pulling her into him a bit more.

"Yeah, that is about all there is too it. He pushed his luck and then that happened." Momiji smiled a bit as she leaned into Minato's chest. "Those bijuu jutsu though are very impressive. No hand signs at all according to Naru."

"Not surprising. Only two or three of the tailed beasts have appendages that can make anything close to a hand sign. Those that I can think of being the Four, Eight, and Nine tails." Momiji purred softly into his neck as she kissed it gently.

 **With Naru and Shisui**

The two walked down through the streets of Konoha, taking in the lights of the village they called home. "So where did you want to go Naru-chan?" Shisui asked as the teen looped her left arm through his right one. As they walked neither noticed a shadow following them from the roofs. The stalker only had standard ninja gear; sandals, dark grey pants and shirt. He also had on a mask, the features of which only came from the paint on it, with no animal based shape to it like a muzzle.

"I wanted to go to that Barbecue run by some of the Akimichis. They have a very large selection that satisfy the Bijuu diets." And with that Naru was off on how the bijuu all ate and that during her travels she had to eat the same way as each one. "I still have to do it too, it helps with the chakra generation." Shisui looked at her after she said that. "The chakra I use for the jutsu they taught me is still my chakra but basically my one hundred percent is broken into tenths. One tenth for each of their styles and one tenth of my normal chakra, of course if I needed to I could use any of the special chakras to for normal jutsu. Such as if I was out normal chakra and needed to make Kage Bunshin, I could use some of the other reserves I have saved up." Shisui nodded as it was explained for him.

"So could you use chakra modeled after the three tails' to cast a jutsu learned from the nine tails?" Shisui asked as they rounded a street corner into the center of town.

"No, that wouldn't work. But my unaligned chakra could be used to help decrease lost reserves of the others. So, if I knew I would need a lot of chakra for the eight tails' techniques because they are the only thing that will work on an opponent I can boost that tenth's quantity with my own. This would make it about a fifteenth of my full reserves, as I need to use some chakra to modify my unaligned tenth." Naru continued her lesson on everything she had learned over the year.

"Then why not keep everything except a small fraction for each unaligned, that way you have a larger base to work with?" The Uchiha was thinking of the amount of effort it must take to do what she needed to do for the Bijuu techniques.

"That is because it is a one percent to one percent exchange. In order to generate one percent of Ichibi chakra, I need to use one percent of my unaligned chakra. And it also takes time to generate the bijuu chakra, more time for bijuu that are not guardians of either of my homelands. That I don't understand why but I am also already used to that setup." Naru explained carefully, trying to word the subject correctly. "It is also a bit better this way because the change from aligned dot unaligned is one percent to zero percent. I can just say, 'Oh, I'm on a boat in the middle of the ocean? I won't be able to use any of the Ichibi or the Yonbi jutsu.' So then I'll use those tenths to supply an extra twentieth to my unaligned."

"This is a really intense subject. How do you keep the tenths separated?" Shisui asked as they walked along the wall of the village, their destination still about ten minutes away.

"With a lot of chakra control exercises. The only time I am not doing them is when I am asleep. Even now I am working on restoring the chakra I used for the Sanbi's coral I made earlier." Naru shifted slightly and pulled Shisui closer to her. "So what about you 'Shisui of the Shunshin', anything take up most of your time lately? Any girls?"

"Only one girl. Red head, with a thing for research and overworking herself. I think she might be related to that acting Uzukage." The Uchiha playfully jabbed at Naru.

"Oh? Anyone I would know?" Naru picked up on the attempt to be smooth and played along. Shisui was one of the more relaxed Uchiha, no fear of expressing himself, so it was funny when he played up his attraction to the Uzumaki teen.

"Intimately I would think." Shisui chuckled as he said it, causing her to blush.

"What about you? Do you know her 'intimately'?" Naru asked, and Shisui shook his head but said he would like to. Naru's blush covered her whole face as she kept up with her date. "Then I wish you the best of luck. Uzumaki women tend to have more than one man after them." Shisui admitted his loss in their joking as they approached the front of the Akimichi restaurant. Being the gentleman he was Shisui opened the door for Naru and followed in after her. The man who had been following them perched himself on the roof of the building across the street. His distance and with the wind that travels through most of the village had kept him from overhearing anything the couple had said.

 **Chapter End**

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I know I said I was going to continue this depending on the feedback, but my first story didn't get most of it's feedback until I was a few chapters in. Not all chapters will be like this. I am planning more of the story as I go, with some key destinations serving as must do's.

Thank you for reading.

-dbrame91


	3. Chapter 3

Keeper of the Forgotten

By: dbrame91

A/N: Very sorry for the long delay but with this and my other story both being in important scenes, and wanting both to be done well, I have been a bit stuck on what to do.

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 **Chapter 3**

The masked ninja waited for his target to exit the restaurant. As the man sat he began to take steps towards his plan, choosing to use a henge before he even made his approach. Originally the unknown person was a bit of a bulkier build, around the same body as Sarutobi Asuma, after the disguise was put into place he was thinner and a perfect copy of Itachi. The henge also changed his hair from his natural short messy black spikes to straight and long. He didn't have to change his eyes at all as they shifted from their natural black to the Sharingan red. Even his mask was changed, going from painted and flat to shaped and painted, making it look like a weasel face. As soon as he was ready a crackle came to life in his ear, his commander's voice calling for his complete attention over the radio.

"Remember, we want only the man dead, but not until he has activated his Sharingan. Once the target is eliminated bring his eyes back to the base." The radio commanded in a monotone voice. The masked man's answer was equally devoid of emotions. "After you deliver the eyes to base, you are to go to the Uchiha compound and talk only to the clan head, letting him know that our side of the deal is complete." Again the mystery man responded with a short acknowledgement.

For over an hour the unnamed Uchiha waited in the darkness of night. Then his target emerged, sending the assassin into activity.

Naru was wrapped gently around Shisui's arm again as they left the Akimichi establishment. As the pair walked silence crept in comfortably, neither wanting to disturb the pleasant peace. As they turned down an alley the unnoticed stalker dropped from the roofs and landed in front of them in a crouched position. Slowly the man stood up and looked at the two, his red eyes standing out in the night.

"Itachi?" As soon as the last sound of the name was out of the redhead's mouth the man attacked. He charged forward and struck out at Shisui with a tightly clenched fist. The unmasked Uchiha reacted just as quickly as the other man, making Naru's safety his priority. The teen took a step back, her eyes never leaving the two fighters. The two clashed briefly, strafing slowly as they did until the assailant was between the young couple. With a quick and fluid motion the fake Itachi threw two kunai behind him at the Uzushio Genin.

Thinking quickly Naru's face took on the markings of Shukaku as she used the dirt of the alley to generate a mass of sand in front of the knives, stopping them. The attack being directed at Naru sent warning bells off in Shisui's mind, causing him to activate his own Sharingan. The assailant saw the transition and moved in, his fist once again aimed for the Uchiha suitor. Naru let her eyes shift as well, her solo tomoe slowly circling her left iris. The two men continued to fight, knocking over a set of three trashcans when Shisui was pushed back into a wall. The disguised assassin was on him as the off-duty ANBU's back hit the stone of the building behind. Shisui continued to fight back, and after seeing the figure that he now saw was not Itachi draw a kunai, he took out a weapon of his own and met the man's every attack.

"Itachi, stop this now. Why are you attacking Shisui?" Naru screamed at the man who had yet to say anything. When Shisui saw her eyes he was reminded that Naru's incomplete use of the dojutsu only allowed her the gift of memory and chakra seeing, leaving out any chance for her to see through the henge on the mysterious Uchiha or reading his attacks.

"Naru, get help! This..." Shisui began to say before he was stabbed in the right shoulder by the shadow's kunai. His words quickly turning to groans in his throat. He looked at the knife in his shoulder, and could feel it grinding against the bone. As he tried to move one hand to the weapon in his shoulder Shisui was struck in the same spot with an empty handed blow. The strike moved the kunai against his bone more, as well as aggravated the rest of the wound. With the masked man pressing this one advantage Shisui saw an opening to retaliate and drove his own knife into the man's side. However the man saw the attack coming and was able to avoid most of the damage that would have been done by jumping back slightly.

With the two split up again Naru switched from the Ichibi's chakra back to her preferred Sanbi's energies. She clapped her hands together and focused at the ground between the two. Suddenly a piece of coral grew from the spot, lancing up and towards the mystery man, catching him in the leg on the opposite side of Shisui's injured shoulder. The man looked at the new wound and found the coral coming from the ground. A skill that his leader would want under his control as soon as possible. Naru called on more of the beast's chakra and used it to make another assault on the attacker, this time forcing two prongs to grow from the first piece that aimed for his chest.

The man leaned back, allowing the sharp branches of material to pass by his chest instead of through it. With a strong stomp to the main piece that held him in position he freed himself, snapping the strong but fragile substance. A quick look to the teen had her caught in a genjutsu to put her under for a few minutes while he completed his assignment. Since the redhead was now visiting dreamland he turned back to the Uchiha he had been sent to eliminate. Shisui was waiting, having taken the knife from his shoulder he was a bit better off now. He threw the bloodied kunai back at its owner who let it fly by him.

The younger Uchiha charged, his own kunai in hand. With a quick motion he brought it up, trying to cut the man's neck. Shisui was favoring his right, keeping it slightly back and using it very little. The injury to his shoulder was enough of an issue without it being torn up worse. The masked Uchiha avoided the slice and caught the offending arm. Flicking his wrist one way caused him to turn Shisui's left arm around and back in a painful position which left the younger of the two open. With his free hand the assailant pulled a white handled tanto from behind him. The blade was average quality at best, with a well kept sharpness and no cross guard. Before Shisui could even see the weapon it was driven into his back, hitting one of his lungs, and being pulled out again.

Naru was able to break out of the genjutsu just as the blade sank into Shisui's back. The shock kept her silent as she watched on, horrified that someone she thought she knew would do something like that to his own friend. She continued to watch, a mix of grief and anger brewing until the assailant made his next move. He dropped Shisui unceremoniously, having only let go of the arm that was holding the short haired Uchiha on his feet. The young Uchiha male was then kicked over onto his back as the assailant pressed one knee to his victim's chest and reached out, towards Shisui's still active sharingan.

Naru screamed as she watched the man's fingers dig out Shisui's first eye and then placing it in a jar of liquid. The scream drew the man's attention to the Uzumaki again, only to witness as her red eyes filled in more, a second tomoe forming in her left eye and the first coming out in her right eye. The same time that her Sharingan matured a little further Isobu's seafoam green marking changed to a menacing glowing blue that turned to flames around her eyes and disappeared from her mouth. The assailant moved, charging for an attack to knock her out. She saw it now though, she could read every detail of his movements. 'He is going to pull around to my back and aim for my neck.' Naru turned with him, keeping him in her sight the entire time.

The man's movements where being played at half speed for her as she watched, the Biju chakra howling to be released in her chakra system. She took the strike to her jaw instead of the back of her neck. Naru's markings glowed a bit brighter as she fed more energy to them and her mouth. Easing open her aching jaw the teen whispered her jutsu's name, "Hunting Hairball." Instantly Naru felt like gagging as the chakra came up as four thick burning masses of blue and black fire and flew for the man she still saw as Itachi. Her eyes looked on blankly as she watched the man avoid the first pass of the technique and was caught by one in the small of his back on the second.

Seeing the change in styles the masked man began to flee after being hit by the first fireball. They continued to chase him down as he raced back to his leader's hideout, going from rooftop to rooftop. Along the way he took another of the flaming hairballs to his injured side, the technique just grazing the wound. Eventually the man got far enough ahead of the demonic Katon to open one of the hidden doors to his group's underground base, the same entrance that his leader would be waiting for him to return through. Just as he landed the man dispelled his henge and began to pull on the door to close it. Unfortunately for him the last of the flaming hairballs made it through and hit him. One hit him in the face and the last in the middle of his stomach, where it could burn its way into his chakra system. The man was dead before he even hit the floor.

Danzo watched as one of his top ROOT agents died. Before the body could be consumed in the blaze he extracted the jarred eye and sighed. "Only one eye. He failed his mission." The bandaged elder of Konoha turned away from the growing pyre that was one of his men and began to head towards the ROOT medical center. "Get a medic to me right away, I want this eye transplanted immediately. Also, look into that strange Katon. It will be a promising addition to our list of tools." And with that Danzo disappeared in the shadows as one of his ROOT ANBU stood by the dead man's corpse waiting for the fire to die down before removing the remains.

Naru had stayed in the alleyway. She was on her knees next to Shisui. Her markings had changed once again, this time from the Nibi's blue to the Shichibi's light green. The designs were two circles around her eyes made of smaller polygonal shapes, crating a bugs' eyes design. Using as much care as her shaking hands could accomplish, the redhead spun silk out of her bug related chakra and was working it into a bandage to try and keep Shisui from losing any more blood. The Uzumaki teen's efforts were pointless though, Shisui had been as good as dead when his arm was released. He was still alive for now. The main source of pain that he felt was from when the masked man took his eye, but his pain was displayed in only weak grunts and groans as Naru adjusted him slightly, trying to keep him comfortable. "Hold on Shisui, I'll bandage you up and someone from ANBU will be here soon." There were tears in Naru's eyes as she gently pulled more of the chakra silk from her mouth. "And then we'll make sure Itachi gets what he deserves for this."

Shisui carefully put a hand on her right cheek, and she nuzzled into it softly. He needed to tell her that that man wasn't really Itachi. As he tried to talk the pain in his lung flared up and forced him to silence. The Uchiha's remaining eye went sad quickly as he shook his head. He could tell that the ANBU were almost there, he just had to hold on a bit longer. Suddenly he felt a stab of pain in his back again as Naru shifted him again, beginning to wrap his torso with the surprising volume of silk she had spun. From his discussion with her over dinner he had learned that the silk could be as soft as the natural material, but as strong as steel and sticky like a spider web. Shisui braced himself as he was moved incrementally in order to give the Uzumaki teen access for her wrapping.

"There, that should do it Shisui." Her voice was a bit weak as she looked at him worriedly. Naru flared her chakra hoping to draw the village's special ninja forces to her location faster. Her suitor's hand remained on her cheek after she began her work to bind his injury, but slipped and fell slowly as three ANBU arrived. The redhead's attention was drawn back to the injured Uchiha instantly and she watched as his eye lids closed for the last time. Her voice grew soft as she gently moved him, shaking his shoulders just enough to cause motion. As she noticed his breathing had stopped one of the ANBU stepped forward and began to check on him, the masked woman's palms alight with soft green chakra. She looked over to the man who must have been the Captain of this group of three and shook her head, turning her eyes down as she did.

Naru looked at each of the ANBU closely. The female had a turtle shaped mask with green scale design around the eyes. She had straight brown hair that fell to just around her shoulders. The next she noticed was a dark haired male, not the Captain, whose mask was a one eyed monkey. His hair was definitely Uchiha and he was about a half a head shorter than the last member of the group, not counting his incredibly spikey hair. Looking at the last member he was wearing a dog mask.

The female member with the turtle mask stepped away from the body and carefully put a hand on Naru's shoulder, rubbing it gently. The Hokage's daughter looked into the eyes of the mask and started the tear up, her breathing heavy. The redhead was taken quietly and quickly to the Hokage's office by the woman. The one eyed monkey ANBU stayed behind as the Captain disappeared in a small whirl of leaves. Naru was lead into a chair in front of her father's desk just as he appeared across from her, using his hiraishin as soon as one of the ANBU from the three man team arrived at his door with the news.

The rest of the night was a long series of questions and a quick meeting with the Yamanaka clan head. By the end of it Naru was tired and still trying to tell them who had committed the attack. Part of the way through the evening the ANBU trio had all been summoned into the office and given their quick debriefings. Monkey had handed a scroll to the blond Hokage carefully and stepped back, the scroll being a corpse sealing scroll. All three had also identified the Shisui as himself. After they had finished Minato turned to them and gave them an order. "Go and spread word that there will be no classes or team placement at the Academy tomorrow. Only civilian services are to be active. When you are finished you can head home." The ANBU nodded and walked out of the door in single file, the Captain being the last to leave and the medic in second.

The second they were alone Minato looked at his daughter. "Naru, who did this to Shisui?" His fingers were laced together as he looked at her, his eyes serious and cold.

"Itachi." Her voice was week as she said it. "He came from the roof tops as Shisui and I walked home. At first he just stood there and then they started fighting." The red haired teen told her story for about the fifth time that night, only now saying it was was Itachi who killed the other Uchiha. "After Shisui was stabbed in the back Itachi then went to take his eyes. He only got one of them, but that was because I yelled and became a new target for him."

The Hokage's hands pushed through his hair roughly as he heaved a heavy sigh. "We will look into this Naru. However until the investigation is done, you and your classmates will not be put into teams. There is too much risk at the moment." He spiked his chakra quickly to summon one of his personal ANBU guards. "Go and gather the council. We will be having a meeting as soon as everyone is present." The masked man nodded and disappeared just was the door opened and Momiji stepped in. "Naru, go home with Momiji-san and rest. The next few days will be very long." Naru nodded and left the office building, her Suna chaperone walking with her.

 **Jump to three days later**

Naru slept fretfully the first two nights. On the first day she had been escorted by her father to the Yamanaka clan's compound where her memories of the night were picked apart by the mind walkers, looking for anything that could clear the Uchiha heir and lead them to a proper suspect. The second day Naru was escorted by her father and the three ANBU that were once the Hokage's genin-student team to the Uchiha compound. That hadn't been Naru's favorite visit to the clan.

"What do you mean Itachi is being taken in for questioning?" Uchiha Fugaku asked in a more demanding than questioning tone. His youngest son was beside him, his annoying smirk in place and glaring at the redhead.

"Exactly as I said Fugaku. We need to ask him a few questions about the evening Shisui and Naru were attacked." Minato countered, using more authority in his voice. The two male ANBU stepped forward slightly as the Turtle masked woman pulled Naru a step back.

"If he is a suspect at the moment I can tell you in full honesty that he was here in the compound." The Uchiha head said as he crossed his arms over his chest. "Now leave the grounds. I'm sure you know where the main exit is, Minato."

Minato closed his eyes and sighed. "This doesn't need to be personal you arrogant bastard, but it can be." Minato opened his eyes again and glared back at the Uchiha. "Now bring your son out here so we can get this underway. I want to clear him just as much as the next person."

"No. Now leave." Fugaku said standing firm.

"As your Hokage, I order you to call Uchiha Itachi out here."

"And as your better I say no."

"Naru dear, how long have you been able to use the Sharingan?" The blond asked as he looked at his daughter.

"Since I was five." Naru answered a bit reluctantly.

"Ah yes, that is right. Has Sasuke awoken his yet Fugaku?" The blond asked as he turned back towards the stern faced man. The tension in the room turned thick. The front door slid open at this point and in walked Itachi, picking up on the mood in the hallway. "Ah good. Itachi, can you please come with us? We just need to ask you a few questions." The Elder of the two Uchiha heirs nodded and stepped to the side, allowing the visitors to his house space. Naru was the first to leave, her exit hasty and nervous.

When the party of four ANBU, singular Hokage, and barely experienced Genin made it back to the Hokage's tower a long session of questions and answers ensued. The Hokage and unmasked Uchiha sat on opposite sides of the desk. The three on duty ANBU had been given permission to remove their masks. Monkey had done so quickly, and his one eyed mask was explained. During a mission in the Third Shinobi War Obito had been cut in the right eye and was blinded by the damage. Turtle's mask was the next to be removed, while her features seemed plain there was a very beautiful quality to them. Rin had been kidnapped from her team on two occasions, the first that lead to Obito's injury and another time by Kiri ninja who had somehow captured the three tailed turtle to use it as a time bomb of sorts, before both had been rescued. Dog was last, and with half of his face hidden by a cloth mask it became obvious who he was to Naru. Kakashi had saved Rin during her second kidnapping and was also the one who freed Isobu from his captivity, allowing the beast to return to the freedom all the Biju were used to.

Obito's one working eye was active, watching for any signs of lying. Minato was locking eyes with Itachi before he began. "Itachi, where were you the night Shisui was killed?"

"I was at the Uchiha compound, with my family, having dinner," Itachi answered. Obito's good eye watched him closely for a few seconds more before nodding. "After that I proceeded to the ANBU HQ, near the shopping center, to request maintenance for some of my gear. A few straps to secure the armor were worn and frayed after my last mission." Again Obito nodded after a short delay.

"Thank you Itachi. I know being a suspect in something like this can be rough, and that this isn't anyone's favorite way to spend their time."

"Minato-sensei. If I may, I would like to bring something to your attention." The Uchiha of the previous Team 7 spoke up as all tensions left the room. "It is just rumors for now, so I believe Uzumaki-san should be excluded for now." Minato nodded and looked towards his former team's medic, a signal to escort Naru to another room. Rin stood up and let the red haired teen follow behind her towards the door.

Gently, the brown haired ANBU put a hand on her teammate's left shoulder as she stepped out. Her face expressed concern and nervousness. Before she left the room Rin looked to her other teammate, Kakashi, and gave him a slightly sad smile. As the two walked through the halls Rin talked casually. Without her mask and a stealthy use of genjutsu she made it appear as if she was just an everyday citizen, instead of one of the Yondaime's personal ANBU. Eventually the pair grew quiet.

"How close are you to your teammates?" Naru asked hesitantly, as she watched the older Kunoichi.

"They are my best friends, and have been since we were put onto Team 7 together." Rin replied with an innocent and fond look on her face.

"Are you intimate with both of them or just Obito-san?" At Rin's sudden shock the Uzumaki heiress blushed a bit. "I'm sorry, that was rude. Forget I mentioned it, please."

"How could you tell about Obito and myself?" The medic's question held no anger or sadness, just an understandable curiosity.

"The way you touched his shoulder before we left the office. It was a caring and very...familiar gesture." Naru looked back at the medic and smiled. "You do seem like a nice couple, though Obito does have that Uchiha sternness."

"That came about after he lost his right eye. It was a shock for him when it happened, but he adjusted and decided that he had to become more serious if he didn't want to die." Rin looked back at the memory and nodded slowly. "It is a very professional view to have, but a good one in our line of work. As for Obito, he can still be fun and loud from time to time. He only does that when we off duty or trying to blend in as civilians."

"And what about Kakashi-nii?" Naru asked as Rin quickly shook her head.

"I used to have a thing for him, back when we were in the Academy and for after that too. The mission we were on when Obito lost his eye I was kidnapped. Obito was the only one who came after me at first, but Kakashi eventually came too. While they were trying to save me Obito almost died, but before he lost consciousness he admitted his crush for me." Rin turned her head back down the hall. "After he woke up I started to give him a chance, and now we are here together."

 **Back in Minato's Office**

As soon as the door closed behind Naru the blond Hokage turned his attention back to the one eyed Uchiha. "What is this rumor?"

Obito pushed his back off the wall as he approached the desk, standing to the left of Itachi. "I've only heard mutterings about it when I was at the clan compound to pick up some supplies, never out in the manipulation of the village." Obito started as he watched Itachi from the corner of his eye. "I overheard a few of the clan elders and some of their underlings talking about how they could guarantee Itachi was the one that Naru would marry. They were also talking about how they could use her to manipulate you into Uchiha favoring decisions."

Itachi's eyebrow twitched as he listened. If anyone had been planning such a thing he was not aware of it. "Do you think they mean to start a coup Obito?" The Hokage asked as he narrowed his eyes, it was not the first time that the Uchiha caused some kind of issue for the village.

"I don't know Hokage-sama. I'm not at the compound enough to hear anything else." Obito shook his head as he shrugged slightly. "I also don't plan on moving back in there."

"Would you allow me to help Hokage-sama?" All eyes in the room turned to the Uchiha heir. "I don't like hearing that my clan could be planning something like this."

"I will think it over. And I know I don't have to say this, but this conversation stays between those in this room." Minato laced his fingers together under his chin and looked to the three ANBU. "If anybody hears anything else about this plot it is to be brought to me only." Each of the men nodded as the village leader looked at them in turn. "Good. Obito, can you please go fetch Naru and Rin? I would check the Scroll of Seals room, Naru always seems to find her way there."

* * *

I have decided on the markings and colors for each Bijuu and their chakra for now, these are what have been revealed.

Ichibi/Shukaku- Black whiskers and a "bandit mask" around the eyes. Techniques involve sand.

Nibi/Matatabi- Blue flames that start under her eyes and around the outer corners of Naru's eyes. Cat themed fire jutsu.

Sanbi/Isobu- Seafoam green around eyes and mouth. Eye design is like Naruto's normal sage mode, the markings around the mouth look like Isobu's bottom jaw. Coral themed Jutsu, usually binding.

Shichibi/Chomei- Light green bug eye designs around the eyes. Versatile bug themed binding, like silk spinning that can be used in place of bandages or restraints.


	4. Chapter 4

Keeper of the Forgotten

By: dbrame91

Been forever since this story got an update. I was trying to get to the Chunin Exams in my other storry before putting out the newest chapter of Keeper of the Forgotten. I am still not entirely there, but almost, as I am having a rough time while trying to put together a lemon scene. I hope that any readers enjoy this chapter and are not too mad for the wait.

* * *

 **Chapter 4**

Several weeks after the interrogation of Itachi the planned graduation events were resumed, forcing Naru to currently be listening to a lecture from Iruka about the importance of his students' new roles as Leaf ninja before receiving their team placements. Naru had started off listening, but quickly drowned out the endless stream of words as she focused on the circulation of her chakra. Her current goal being to control the very flow; stopping it, restarting, changing the direction from clockwise to counter-clockwise and back, and when she finished those she moved from one chakra to the next. She had started with her normal energies and had gotten to her supply of Nibi related chakra. Around the time she had shifted to using the cat oriented chakra Naru felt a small flare of the fiery nature on the back of her neck and found the burnt husk of a small insect near her left foot.

"...Finally I would like to say congratulations one last time to everyone here today." Iruka's last words bringing the red haired daughter of the Hokage back to the classroom. Naru slowly eased up on her chakra, allowing the energy to switch back to her normal supply. As she did Iruka picked up a clipboard from the podium in front of him and looked over the list. "This year we have 9 teams." Iruka then began to go down the list, reciting the names of students and their Jonin sensei.

The first six teams were all made up of civilian born graduates, with only Team 6 having a former ANBU as their instructor. 'They will be hard pressed to pass the second test, but they could be a good team with Ox as their sensei.' Naru looked around the room as she exhaled a deep breath. 'Only one civilian left, and then only clan heirs.'

"Team 7 is next." Iruka looked up from his clipboard to make sure the three were paying attention. "Uzumaki Naru." The red-haired girl nodded her head, confirming her hearing. "Haruno Sakura." The pink haired civilian girl looked at Naru with a glare from the corner of her eye, which earned the teen a shrug. "And lastly will be Uchiha Sasuke." The Haruno girl looked over at the black haired teen, a look of triumph on her face as she met eyes with her friend turned rival, Yamanaka Ino. As Iruka was about to declare their Jonin sensei Naru cut him off.

"Noooooo! I don't want to be teamed up with the stuck up Uchiha." Naru groaned out audibly for the rest of the class to hear as her head hit the desk in front of her. As soon as her head was down she could feel the glare coming from the teen that was some distant cousin. Without looking up she called him out. "You got a problem with me Sasuke?"

"Yes I," the raven haired teen started before the class instructor spoke up. With a humph the Uchiha teen turned back towards the front of the room, his arms crossed in front of him.

With a cough to clear his throat Iruka drew attention back to him. "The instructor for Team 7 will be Hatake Kakashi." Naru nodded again before grumbling to herself about the team. "Team 8 will be lead by Yuhi Kurenai, and made up of..."

'Kakashi is my instructor? Well that makes two groups with ANBU level teachers. I wonder what the teamwork test will be, probably the bells like Jiraiya-jiji and tou-san did.' Naru looked around to her teammates. 'I could try to reverse the perspective of the teamwork. Help Kakashi keep the bells, he probably won't agree with that being enough but he might approve of the hidden objective.'

As Iruka continued going through the list of teams Naru once again turned her focus to her chakra, starting with her Nibi chakra. Connecting her thumbs and her index fingers as she crossed the rest of her fingers together and rested them in her lap, Naru reached for the fiery cat demon's chakra and allowed the markings to take shape on her face. With a slow exhale she let the energy seep into her coils and began to let it flow freely. By the time Iruka was done with Team 8 the red headed teen had managed to work through the different steps and was releasing her hold on the chakra, exhaling deeply as a small gout of flame left her lips and accidentally burning the top of the desk with the heat.

With a worried look around the room Naru smothered the flames with her hands, coating the digits in a trace amount of the same chakra to protect them from burning. Just as she sighed in relief a whisper was in her right ear. "What was that?" Naru's response was to turn to the voice and look at the speaker with a mix of confusion and horror. "What the hell is up with your makeup too? No guy would like that blue fire design. My name is Ino, by the way." The person to her right was a blond haired girl in a purple two piece outfit. The top was a vest cut that ended about two inches below the girl's bust line, while the skirt was more of an apron being worn the wrong way with a shorter dark grey skirt beneath it.

"I'm not wearing any makeup." Naru's response came out confused as she tried to figure out what the other young woman meant. The purple wearing girl shook her head from left to right and then back again before reaching toward the red head's face, trying to smear the design. The Uzumaki heiress scrunched up her eyes as she tried to pull her head away, losing her handle on Nibi chakra causing the designs to disappear from her face. Seeing the change Ino pulled her hands back, expecting to see traces of the blue on her thumbs. "I told you I wasn't wearing any makeup. Those were made by chakra."

Ino just looked at the red head quizzically as Iruka continued the team placements. "Team 10 is going to be the next Ino-Shika-Cho combination under Sarutobi Asume." Ino looked to the front of the room and nodded her head.

"One of the Twelve Guardian Ninja?" Naru gave a soft whistle. "That is pretty impressive. They are about the same level as ANBU, if not higher, and they only serve the Daimyo." The Uzumaki girl's eyes shifted towards her blond deskmate. "You got pretty lucky, he is going to have a lot to teach you." Naru's right palm rubbed the burned wood of the desk, trying to rub it away. "And a better team format than mine. We're too all over for our own good."

Ino just looked at her, "at least your have Sasuke on your team. He made Rookie of the Year. Meanwhile I'm stuck with the laziest duo in the class, the same team setup that my father had." The Yamanaka heiress sighed as she stretched forward, across the top of the shared desk.

"You really think I'm lucky? I can't stand even being in the same room as him without getting angry when he looks at me." Naru tucked a few loose strands of hair behind her ear and stretched her arms towards the ceiling, adding emphasis to her chest as she did.

"Your new teachers will be here after lunch, till then you are free to stretch your legs." With a quick glance around the room Iruka bowed his head slightly. "Best wishes to you all, now go and make our village proud." The grin on Iruka's face was small but sincere as he looked back up before leaving the room. The students watched him go, many of them waiting for the chance to get out of the stuffy classroom and go eat.

While most of the class left, a few students stayed behind. All of Team Ten stayed, only for the two males to come over to the desk and ask Ino to join them for lunch. The Hyuuga heiress remained in her seat as she tried to occupy herself with her own lunch and a small book, her mouth moving to the words on the page. Sasuke had left as quickly as he could, but there was a teen in a very large coat who was wearing a pair of sunglasses as well. 'An Aburame? That must be the bug user whose kikaichu I fried with my exercises. I should probably apologize for that.' Naru nodded gently as she got to her feet and was about to walk over to him when she was stopped by Ino.

"Naru, right?" The blond gained her fellow girl's attention with her call. "Do you want to join us? I hate being the only girl when Shikamaru and Choji go out to eat." Ino pointed behind her at the Nara and Akimichi heirs with her thumb.

"Where are you going?" Naru asked as she looked back towards the seated Aburame. "I'll meet you there, I just want to talk to a few people in the back real quick."

"Barbecue place near the Fire Tower. You know where that is right?" Choji said from his place next to his tired looking friend.

Naru nodded as she waved the three off limply, already turning back to her target. She approached him quietly and coughed to get his attention. "Hello. I just wanted to say I'm sorry about the bug I fried earlier, my chakra is volatile to anything that isn't expecting it." Naru bowed her head as she waited for a response.

"You do not have to apologize. While it was one of my Kikaichu, it wasn't appropriate for me to send it to study you." He watched as Naru raised her head again and met what she assumed was his eyes. "My name is Aburame Shino, just so you know in the future." With that he went back to his own thoughts as Naru accepted the end of the conversation and moved on to the Hyuuga heiress.

"Hinata?" The redhead's voice was soft to keep from her startling the reading teen, though it didn't help as the dark blue haired girl jolted to attention before shutting her eyes. The sitting teen closed her book as her cheeks turned a deep red, not even looking to see who had approached her.

"I'm sorry! I didn't know I was reading out loud again!" Hinata's blush got brighter as she closed her eyes tighter and tried to keep her book pressed to her chest. "Please don't take my book again." Naru tilted her head at this as she watched.

"I'm not going to take your book Hinata. I just wanted to say hi. And you weren't reading out loud either." Naru extended a hand slowly to the girl who had also been the victim of the same failed kidnapping when they were young. "Have people taken your book before?" At this Hinata opened her eyes again and looked up at the redhead, relaxing a bit as she recognized the girl.

"Naru?!" Now the Hyuuga girl hid her small book in one of her pockets. The book itself was a plain brown hardcover, just small enough to fit into a weapons pouch, with no writing on the covers or spine, and looked like it may have had a paper wrap around it originally. "I'm sorry. I didn't know it was you." Hinata and Naru had been found together during the Cloud Incident by the Hyuuga girl's uncle, both girls terrified at the time, but bonded over it afterwards. The incident was one reason why the pale eyed girl was withdrawn and easily startled, the other parts being her shy and meek personality. At first Naru had felt the same as the other girl, but when she took it as a reason to be stronger she tried to help Hinata do the same and forged the friendship that they had.

There had been little change in the meek teenaged girl, at least when it came to her personality. She could be strong if she wanted to, and Naru knew that much, but her kind heart and timidness left her unwilling to fight. "Who has been taking your book Hinata?" The seated heiress flinched a bit, noticing the hint of anger in the Uzumaki's voice. As she fidgeted in her seat a hand was put on her shoulder, drawing her attention back to the redhead. "Please, tell me Hinata."

"Some of the other girls in the class. They said it was because I was hogging Sasuke's attention." Her hand hovered over where her book was hidden. "It wasn't my fault. He kept watching me like I was something he wanted." She shuddered slightly as she continued on a bit more. "So Sakura and a few of the other girls stole my book and ripped some of the pages out before giving it back to me."

Naru put her hands on her friend's shoulders and squeezed gently. "It's okay Hina. I'll make them both pay during our lessons." She smiled as her friend did so as well. "Would you like to come with me to meet with Team Ten? It would be nice to have someone I can actually talk to there." The blue haired girl looked at her, thinking about it a bit before nodding slightly. "Good, then we can talk about your book on the way." Taking Hinata's hand Naru lead her from the room. "Your book didn't look damaged when you were reading it. Did you get a new copy?"

Again the Hyuuga teen nodded. "Yes. It wasn't my book they destroyed so I had to replace it. But I could only find an expensive hard cover one." Hinata pulled her hand free gently as she met Naru's pace. "And I could only find it in a back alley book store."

"What book is it? And who let you borrow their copy if it is that hard to find?" Naru asked as she looked to her side as she passed through a pair of intersecting streets littered with cart traffic. Each cart being pulled by either animals or people depending on the size, and each cart was filled with the offerings from local villages to the open markets of Konoha.

"N-neji let me borrow it." Hinata's reply sounded a little forced, like she wasn't sure that it was a good idea to have even borrowed the book in the first place. "H-he said that reading it could help me get over my shyness."

The Uzumaki teen faltered slightly in her haste. Neji had never been very friendly to either of the girls, and it was only made worse after the Cloud Incident. "Are you sure he was trying to help you? You still haven't told me what the book was called." Neji usually stuck with the traditional Hyuuga way of humiliating a person, one on one matches under the observation of the clan Elders, however that had not stopped him from taking sneakier paths. "I mean it wouldn't be the first time Neji made you look bad by doing something that looked like help."

"I was worried at first too, but after a while I think the book did help." Hinata put her hand over the pocket that held the small work of literature. "I would always blush when i read it, eventually though it got less embarrassing and I could read it without blushing." The pale eyed girl looked to her companion as she continued. "So I don't think Neji was trying to trick me." Reaching into her pocket she slowly pulled out the book and handed it to the redhead. "Just open the front cover."

Naru did exactly that as she took the book and looked around the hard binding. On the first page were three words and a name that she did not want to associate with her kind hearted friend. She almost threw the book up and behind her as she ran. "Why are you reading one of ero-jiji's books Hinata?!" The shock of it all was too bizarre for words to her. "Except for his first book, all he has ever written is smut." The secret daughter of the Fourth Hokage reigned in her volume, noticing that a few people had looked her way when she had yelled.

"Ero-jiji? This is one of your godfather's books?" Hinata asked a bit shocked. "But why would Neji give me something like that?" The blue haired teen's cheeks started to alight with a dusting of pink before deepening for an even coloring.

"Probably to make you look bad to your clan. If he wanted to, all he would have to do is say he saw you reading it and everyone would believe it. Does anybody know you were reading this?" Thinking quickly Naru reached for her Nibi chakra. "I can burn it for you and no one will ever know about it." Hinata's response was a furious nodding of her head, her eyes closed as she nodded. With a deep breath Naru readied a small blast of heat and exhaled it into the open pages of the book, creating a small blaze in her hand of blue and black demon fire. Within a few seconds the tome was ash in the wind as Naru brushed off her hands. "How did you not know what kind of book it was?"

"It started off like a romance novel. I didn't know." Hinata's cheeks were a brilliant blaze compared to her normally pale complexion. The sudden realization of what she had been reading undoing any 'progress' the effort had made. "It was a little bit more mature than a regular romance story, but they never did... _that._ At least not that I read."

"That is how the dirty toad catches you. You think it is just a little bit of mature fun, and then you're four pages deep into a sex scene before there is even a clear decree of that is what is happening." Naru looked over at the other teen. "I fell for it too. But no one told me that he wrote it or what it was about." At Hinata's surprised look the redhead nodded her own head. "It was a new book at the time, and hadn't even been released yet." Letting a small amount of chakra flood her eyes Naru continued as her eyes turned from their usual deep blue to her incomplete Sharingan. "And because I read it with my eyes active I still remember it 5 years later."

Hinata shuddered slightly, imagining having to always remember such naughty things as what had waited for her deeper in the pages of that story. The two teens stopped when they got to the corner of two streets that was too crowded, with wagons and shopping stalls, to get through on foot without a struggle. Feeling a tug at her elbow Hinata watched as her friend scaled the side of a close by building, using only her feet and chakra to make the climb. Naru looked out into the distance, studying the crowding in the village square. "Hinata, let's go this way. There are too many carts." Both teens traveled up the walls and hopped from one roof to the next, taking short leaps when they needed. With the change of movement they made it to the restaurant quickly, and landed in front of the place.

A little while later, back at the Academy

Naru sat at a desk as her fingers slowly practiced going over the summoning jutsu's sequence before going to a new set, this set being for a Yoton she had spied a kunoichi from Kiri use. Her regular chakra was not capable of the jutsu, but when she had learned from the four-tailed monkey she discovered that she could, to a lesser potency, perform the technique with the Yonbi aligned chakra. It was almost 2 now, most of the other teams having been picked up by their teachers. Only teams 7 and 10 were still in the room and each student had taken a seat at different desks.

Naru looked at the clock in the room and sighed as she shook out her hands and started to go through more hand signs. As she continued her exercises she tried to tune out the stares from her distant cousin, the awkwardness and irritation getting to her. With a slam of her hands on the desk she glared towards him. "What do you want? Staring at me isn't going to make your Sharingan activate you know." The sudden outburst caused a few of the room's inhabitants to jump and give their attention to the two.

Once everyone was collected Sakura spoke up, moving between the two. "Hey, don't yell at Sasuke." Her feet were about shoulder length apart and her hands were on her hips. "You were probably doing something wrong and he was thinking of helping you."

Naru looked over the pink haired girl and laughed to herself. "Not a chance gumdrop. He wouldn't care if we were holding the rope that was keeping him from falling to his death." The Uzumaki heiress's eyes scrunched up as she glared at the girl. "He would just tell us to let him go and that he could fly if he wanted to." The Uzumaki teen said with a factual tone to her voice. "Also, I know my hand signs. Have since I was 5, and because of my loose familial ties to him I have the same eyes he wishes he has. And they don't let you forget."

As Naru inhaled softly in order to continue her explosive tirade, the sliding door opened and two adults walked in. One of them had the familiar hair of the dog masked ANBU who had been one of the Hokage's students. The other was a man with a cigarette in his mouth, slightly wild but short hair, and the sash of one of the Twelve Guardian Ninja on his hip. "Team 7, line up with me." Kakashi said as he looked around the room. His students each took up a position in front of him, Sasuke in the front and Naru in the back. Meanwhile Ino and her two teammates stepped up near their sensei. "Already fighting amongst yourselves? You'll never last. Proceed to the roof of the building."

"...I guess my team will just go elsewhere then." The man who was most likely Sarutobi Asuma said to himself as he waved for his possible future students to follow him.

With a sudden puff of thin smoke Kakashi was gone from his place, and Naru began to make her way to the roof. Sasuke following a step behind her, and Sakura behind him. Naru had jumped up the railing of the stairwells to get to the top floor faster, as her teammates slowly took the stairs. The second in line to be head of the Uchiha taking three steps at a time, while Sakura was only able to manage two at a time before getting too tired after three flights. opening the door Naru approached the lone figure near the railings.

Taking the momentary privacy she called out to him. "Hey, Kashi-nii. It's been a long time huh?" Looking over his shoulder the Jounin gave a slight eye smile and nodded his head. "Well, at least since we've seen each other when off the clock. How are you doing?" The red headed teen approached him casually and leaned against the same railing, taking in the view of the local flora.

"Yeah, it has Naru-chan. How did your backpacking trip go?" The silver haired man's posture tensed slightly as Naru replied with a curt 'fine,' before pushing herself away from the railing and turning to look at the door as it opened and her cousin stepped onto the flat roof too. After another minute Sakura walked through the door as well and Kakashi clapped his hands. "Okay kiddies, go sit over there and we will start with introductions." His tone was a strained attempt at light heartedness that didn't translate well through the gruffness of his voice from years of authority. Pointing to some semi-circle steps that separated the viewing area and the rest of the roof.

With a bit of hesitance the teens followed the order. Naru sat on the top step with her legs crossed, right foot tucked into her left knee and left foot under her right knee. Sasuke sat at one of the ends, his body angled to keep from looking at the pink haired teen also on the stairs. "So, you all know each other to a slight degree. I only know what was in your personal files though. We are going to start with introductions. I want you to tell me your likes, dislikes, hobbies, and dreams." The Jounin spoke calmly as he thought, 'Let's see how much they are willing to give out.'

"You should start off sensei, as our superior we will need to know about you." Sakura said as she turned her attention to the masked man.

"Okay, I am Hatake Kakashi. There are things I like, and things I dislike. I'm not going to share my hobbies. As for my dream, I never had one." As Kakashi spoke he crossed his arms over his chest, and when he finished he pulled a hand free to wave towards the pink haired girl. "And since you spoke first, it's your turn to share."

Sakura's introduction was mostly catching herself from talking about Sasuke and awkward glances in his direction when she would have talked about him. The only thing that didn't involve Sasuke was her list of things she hated, her only answer for that being the Yamanaka heiress. "Okay, bad first impression. Moving on. Uchiha, you're next." Sasuke's list was short and non-informative until he got to his dream, which was to reach the same level of skill as his brother. "Not a bad start, predictable dream. Uzumaki-san, it is now your turn."

As Naru was about to speak Sakura cut her off. "Why did you use an honorific for her? She is barely from this village."

Sighing quickly, Kakashi answered. "She is essentially an ambassador for a closely allied village, being the daughter of the Uzukage." Kakashi was more than aware of Naru's full heritage, but could not share more than he already had as the rest was a very strictly kept secret. One person who had know and let the information slip had himself, and the recipient of the knowledge, thrown into Torture and Interrogation for a week.

"Actually Kaa-san is the 'Acting' Uzukage. She plans to step down from the position once there is someone better suited to the title of Kage. The only reason she even was declared acting Uzukage is she is the one who started the reunion of our clan's home." Naru explained as she scratched her cheek lightly, having somewhat figured out why Kakashi's intro was so lack luster. "As for my introduction, my name is Uzumaki Naru and I am a Genin of Uzushiogakure as well as Konoha. I never really kept a list of what I like or don't. It is just easier to decide if I want something or not. My hobby is to study what I call forgotten jutsu, which touches upon forbidden jutsu as well as any jutsu that has been lost to the modern day. I am still trying to figure out exactly what my dream is, all I know is that it is a big dream."

"Still more information than you needed to give, but nothing important was shared either. Would you be willing to tell me how many jutsu you know that fall under the category of forgotten, and how many you can use? Purely for my own information." Kakashi asked as he studied his sensei's daughter.

'The entire Scroll of Sealing which is forty techniques, and the two each Guardian Bijuu could teach me. And three of the clan's nearly lost jutsu.' Naru opened her eyes after thinking it over. "Sixty-one jutsu in total. Three of which are clan jutsu. Eighteen of the remaining ones that require the use of particular chakra, that will only be taught to my descendants. The other forty, I am not able to explain how I know them." The Uzumaki heiress broke down the count, positive that Kakashi knew where the largest amount of her knowledge came from.

"What do you mean by jutsu that need certain chakra? Like a Kekkai Genkai?" Sakura asked as she doubted her fellow teen's honesty.

Naru looked at the pink haired girl before responding. "The chakra is not related to blood lines, it has to be nurtured and developed by the user. It is just that I am the first person who knows those jutsu, and will not share that knowledge with anybody not approved by the ones who taught me."

As Sasuke scoffed, and before he could come up out with some kind of jeering comment, Kakashi clapped his hands to regain the attention of his three student hopefuls. "Tomorrow we will be taking a test," Kakashi explained when all eyes were on him again. "It is going to be a survival exercise so do not eat and show up early to get warmed up. 7 o'clock should be perfect timing, don't forget anything that you would need on a mission." With a quick puff of displaced air Kakashi was gone, and several buildings over in the Hokage's office to report in.

Taking the cue of dismissal, Naru stood up from her cross legged position and traveled home using the rooftops. She slid the front door open after unlocking it, and closed it behind herself. Looking around the entry area the redhead found a note by the door, Her father explaining that some things came up and he would be stuck at work. Catching the time, as she walked by a wall mounted clock in the hallway, Naru returned to her room to change before leaving the Namikaze household again to find something to eat, heading towards the village shopping district for groceries.

As she walked Naru was passed several times by two male figures, in matching jumpsuits and with matching haircuts, as they ran on their hands. Each time they passed by her the number of laps to go decreased. The highest number she had heard was the the first, when she was passing the apartments district. "Come Lee, One hundred laps to go! If we can not finish our three hundred laps through the village while running on our hands, we shall race to the Land of Wind while maintaining an Electric Arm Chair stance!" After hearing the preposterous declaration Naru turned her head to follow them along their path.

"Hai Gai-sensei! And if I cannot do that then I shall unleash 1000 punches upon the punching posts, with an extra 50 pounds on each arm!" The smaller of the two figures declared as he kept pace with his taller counterpart.

With a hearty chuckle the one called sensei nodded his head. "Then I shall perform 2000 punches with 100 extra pounds on each arm while you do so!" Naru continued to watch as she lost sight of them, but could still hear the odd duo.

"They must speak in nothing but yelling." Naru said to herself, getting as she passed the umpteenth side street along her route.

"Yelling and declarations of extreme self-punishment." A voice said behind the Uzumaki teen, making her whip her head around to find the voice belonged to her new teacher's Uchiha teammate. "Might Gai calls himself Kakashi's rival, probably the only person who can give that stick in the mud a challenge too, and every time they compete he makes one challenge to himself in case he loses." Obito explained as walked along side the heiress. "It is probably the biggest cause of headaches for your father, especially after taking on that protege of his. One time he challenged Kakashi to see who could eat a hundred pies fastest." At this story Obito laughed. "That one was my fault. I told Gai that the stickler could easily eat that many because he loved all kinds of pie; Cherry, blueberry, didn't matter. It was a lie of course, I just wanted to see how Kakashi would handle it."

Naru giggled behind her hand as she looked over at him. "I take it Gai won. Kaka-nii hates sweet things." Obito nodded as he chuckled too. "Am I to take it that you have been assigned to guard detail while off-duty?"

The Uchiha clansman shook his head. "No, Turtle is on detail. I'm just here so she has something good to look at." Obito laughed until he felt a senbon break the skin of his left shoulder, causing him to cringe as it touched a knot of muscle. Pulling the weapon free he looked over to the redhead. "So where are you off to little cousin? Need any help?"

Naru shook her head before explaining her current goal. As she did so the two hand walkers passed by again. "Ninety-eight more laps Lee! This is the time to let our Youth burn as we pick up the pace!" With a surprising burst of speed the two were off, still shouting as they moved out of sight again.

"Ninety-eight? They were on 100 last time." Naru said looking over to the cousin she could tolerate.

"Gai has a route that takes him through the side streets and alley of Konoha. Overall it comes around to two trips around the interior of the wall. Usually Gai does it by himself and counts _that_ route as one lap." Obito explained as he shrugged. "I wouldn't be surprised if we see him pass us again in about five minutes. Once he really gets going Gai can run the elemental nations without chakra, including to Kiri and Uzushio."

The daughter of two kage nodded her head weakly as she continued down the paths. "Well, then he and his protege must be the physically strongest shinobi in the village."

"Yes and no. When it comes to taijutsu they are unrivaled, but they both are incapable of using ninjutsu or genjutsu. So for them, there is no 'strongest' level there can only be stronger." Obito explained as he looked at the time on a storefront clock. "They will forever keep improving, so that when they meet the person stronger than them, they can still put up a great fight. It is a humbling view, but a strong one."

As the words left his mouth the green clad duo rounded a corner behind the Uchiha descendants, and sped by as an annoyed Jounin chased after them yelling something about knocking over his drink. Shaking his head Obito laughed a bit. "They will outrun him before they even pass the bank front." And sure enough, as if decreed by a god, the unnamed man stopped trying to keep up outside of a bakery just two shops down from the strolling sharingan users. "Anyway, we should get you your groceries so you can eat tonight before Kakashi's test tomorrow. Good luck with that by the way, it won't be easy."

From there the night continued in a normal fashion except for the speeding green blurs that got progressively faster and louder, before the younger of the two misplaced his hand onto a somewhat sharp rock and losing his balance. Both figures then quickly got to their feet with the older yelling about taking the awkward stance as if they were sitting in chairs that were not there. "Now let us begin Lee! To the Land of Wind!" Both then immediately shot off towards the large gates of Konoha, Naru's activated eyes the only reason she even saw them move without losing the positioning of their bodies.


End file.
